An Understanding

DELILAH

Both the boys showed back up as I was drying the water on my eyes. They carried all of my bags between them.

A human would have been sweating, even if they had the brothers’ bulging muscles, but to them it was just another leisurely stroll.

I had pulled more power from the earth to keep warm as I inspected every last inch of the area.

I didn’t know how to make heads or tails of it, but I had found a big enough slab of rock that I planned to move tomorrow to make a makeshift table next to the tree.

Their eyes roamed my body as they set the bags down; already I could feel the pull of magic in every fiber of me, pulling toward them.

Being clothed would help the situation.

I crouched down next to one of my bags and quickly pulled on a hoodie I had stored in the main zipper, then pulled out a pair of baggy sweats.

Both of them watched me passively.

“Tomorrow I will spend all day in preparation. I will be cleansing the area, setting up the herbs, and focusing the energy.

“When the time comes, I will have you both use your blood in order to call your mates.” I paused, considering whether or not I should warn them.

What I was doing was dangerous—everything about it sounded like a bad idea.

Was I being selfish by spelling their doom? Did it matter?

They were clients, and we were just giving them what they had asked.

Most witches didn’t value any but our own kind—save for the respect we showed the Fae.

They both stood there, identical, with their hands in their pockets.

Cole looked aloof, as if he didn’t want to be here at all, and Seth had his intense gaze.

No mistake, each of them was what the other wasn’t—two halves of a whole.

And it made them all the more deadly.

Maybe it was a mistake to tell them, but my heart twisted painfully.

I couldn’t make this decision for them.

“There’s something you need to know…,” I said quietly, my eyes lowering to my suitcase.

“We know,” Seth said sharply.

“We heard you,” Cole agreed, crossing his arms and shifting his weight.

I hadn’t even sensed them while I was talking to my mother, but I was too frantic to have noticed.

I closed my eyes. “With your hearing…did you hear what she said?”

“Yes,” Cole said, nodding.

“We think it’s suspicious, but we should still do it,” Seth grunted.

My eyes flew open, and my jaw dropped. “B-but—”

“A mate—whoever it is—won’t come between us,” Seth cut me off. “We will make it work even if it means living separately, in order to not cause the other one pain.”

“Our pack relies on us too much for this to be an issue,” Cole said in agreement. “Guess it makes sense why we agree on so much, and we are such efficient leaders—we’re truly two halves of a whole.”

I wanted to glare at them and call them morons—to tell them that they weren’t truly two halves because that meant one would have to be the bad one.

That whatever had happened to them before they were born was unnatural.

But the truth was, it was strange how they didn’t bicker or fight. Almost like they really were connected somehow, instead of just opposing sides of the same force.

It didn’t matter though. A person couldn’t bond with two bodies—it would mate with one part of the soul, and not the other.

One of them would die.

“I’d rather not tell you this, but your lives are at risk over a silly love spell,” I said honestly.

Seth took a few steps forward, crouching in front of my suitcase directly across from me, his honey eyes looking deeply into mine.

“You have your doubts, and so do we. The Grand Witch seemed too eager to have you home after calling us mutts. Suddenly, she seemed to care very much that we not die—which we both know can’t be the case.”

I gave a slow nod. “She didn’t want me to do it, she planned to give you a refund.”

“Why do you think that is?” Seth inquired.

My gaze flicked to Cole, then back to Seth as I bit my lower lip.

“My best guess would be that this…unusual peace between our coven and your pack was because a Fae got involved.

“They don’t typically get involved unless they get something out of it in the long run, or they see something they want.

“Some of them have a gift of foresight, or a bit of knowledge that will serve them or their future generations.”

I shook my head.

“Whatever the case, it’s clear our coven made some sort of deal that my mother might have forgotten about. It’s only right that we finish our half of the deal—whatever that was—but Fae magic is tricky.”

“What do you mean ‘tricky’?” Cole asked, leaning against a tree.

I glanced at him. “The spell—I would say if it was done by an unnatural witch, you’re certain to die. That this would be too damaging an experience to recover from.”

I sighed. “Fae magic is different, though. If I do this spell, there’s no telling what will happen. You both could fuse into one being and walk out of here completely changed.”

Cole furrowed his brows and Seth growled, making my gaze jump to him in alarm.

“Fuse!?” he snarled.

I held up my hands in defense.

“There are a million scenarios. For all I know, a Fae child will pop out of the ground like a daisy, and that will be one or both of your mates. I have no clue what will happen!”

I gestured around. “This magic is untamed. It has your essence infused in it all over this area in a way I never thought possible. I expected to find a place with a bit of magic that would call out to your souls. This is…”

I shook my head with a sigh. “I can harness it—for this spell, one time only. The results though…I don’t know,” I said honestly.

“We’re working with magic that isn’t supposed to exist here at all, and it’s been fused into the land. That fountain is a fountain of life from life.

“It means that magic was used here to heal you—life from life. Splitting souls. It’s not natural, but the Fae magic acts like it is.”

Seth frowned, sitting back on his heels. “Pretty scary shit when a witch tells us she has no clue what a spell will do.”

“Especially a hot and sexy one,” Cole said with a small grin, winking at me as I turned my gaze on him.

A small blush crept up my cheeks. “So, knowing that—do you really want to still do the spell?”

“Do you?” Seth asked, tilting his head.

I bit my lip cautiously. After a long pause, I nodded.

“My mother… I’ve served her all these years, and followed in her footsteps. I don’t exactly want to take over her coven just to run it as she does. She wanted this money badly, so whatever this is, I want to know.”

Cole shrugged, stretching. “Then it’s settled. We do the spell tomorrow as planned. For now, we stay off the land as much as we can.”

He looked pointedly at Seth—I hadn’t noticed how close he was getting to me, slowly moving around the bags, getting closer and closer.

The electric sparks of magic were already starting to stir between us.

~Fae magic—untamed and wild, usually reveling in sexual attraction.~

~This spell would be fun…~, I thought, groaning internally.

Something like this would leave me aching like I never had before.

After a moment of him staring at me a little longer, Seth quickly stood, backing away from me.

“If I’m the unmated one, I’m fucking you tomorrow night,” Seth drawled as he joined Cole, his scent trailing behind him.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

Well, at least if I didn’t end up killing them with this spell, I had that to look forward to.

I felt a flush of shame. Just the thought made my toes curl.